10-Year-Old Wins Top Silicon Valley Invention Award for AI Air-Sensing Device

A ten-year-old Taiwanese student, Hsu Ting-wei, earned the premier prize at the Silicon Valley International Festival for an AI-driven electronic nose that can sample air behind X-ray baggage scanners.

At this year’s Silicon Valley International Festival in California, 10-year-old Hsu Ting-wei from Kang Chiao International School secured the top award for his AI-powered “Novel Artificial Electronic Nose,” a non-contact system designed to sit behind X-ray baggage scanners and detect chemicals in real time. The invention combines air sampling, gas chromatography-mass spectrometry and AI-based odor identification, aiming to block threats such as African swine fever-contaminated pork and illicit drugs like fentanyl.

Jury chairman Amin Ghafooripour noted that the prize was granted on the basis of practical value rather than the inventor’s youth. Hsu also received a gold medal and the International Federation of Inventors' Associations' best invention award. Taiwanese participants dominated the festival, earning a record 24 gold medals, eight silver and one bronze, the highest tally since Taiwan first entered in 2018.

Other Taiwanese successes included the youth-category winner “AllerDetect GO,” an allergy-alert system, and a special award to Baichao Greenergy Tech Co from the World Intellectual Property Organization. SVIIF board member Matt Nuccio praised the overall quality of the Taiwanese entries, especially given the young ages of many innovators.